Devils may make a deal for a scorer

NEWARK – The imbalance is obvious to anyone who looks at the Devils’ roster.They are more than set on the blue line with what coach Pete DeBoer calls “eight NHL defensemen.”

As DeBoer also notes, however, “You only dress six.”

At the same time, after losing Zach Parise to free agency and deciding not to re-sign Petr Sykora, there are some obvious holes up front and no obvious candidates to fill them. Between Parise (31 goals) and Sykora (21), that’s 52 goals from last season the Devils need to replace, and they’re looking at players such as Bobby Butler (six goals in 56 games last season) and Mattias Tedenby (one goal in 43 games) to do it.Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello hinted over the summer that he might deal from his surplus on defense to bring in some scoring help. That adds a bit of uncertainty to this lockout-shortened training camp as the Devils prepare for their season opener Saturday against the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum.

“I think it’s going to be interesting because trying to fill Zach’s hole there’s a lot of guys trying to change a role a bit and trying to maybe see if they can fill in a little bit of what Zach does,” defenseman Bryce Salvador said Monday. “There’s just a little bit of a feeling each other out and the combinations. Whether there’s a move or not, I have better odds of buying a winning lottery ticket than being accurate on that.”

Salvador is the leader of what was termed the “no-name defense” during the Devils’ run to the Stanley Cup Finals last season and after re-signing with them as an unrestricted free agent for three years, $9.5 million last summer, it would appear he’ll be staying put. It’s also a safe bet that 19-year-old Adam Larsson, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2011 draft, isn’t going anywhere.

Marek Zidlicky will turn 36 on Feb. 3 and has only one year left on his contract at $4 million, but the puck-moving skill he added after being acquired from Minnesota last season is something the Devils were sorely lacking before his arrival and was a key to their run to the Finals. And Anton Volchenkov provides a physical presence – along with Salvador – that would be missed.

That seems to leave Andy Greene, Mark Fayne, Henrik Tallinder and Peter Harrold as the more likely candidates to be moved. Still, as Salvador noted, with the Devils, nothing is ever obvious when it comes to possible trades.

“We just worry about getting ready,” Greene said. “Whatever happens, they’re going to make their decision. There’s nothing you can do to control that. The only focus is on getting ready and being ready for Saturday and the rest of the season.”

It’s possible Lamoriello waits to see how his team plays early in the season before making a move. Having extra defensemen in reserve over the course of a contracted schedule of 48 games after a four-month lockout certainly can’t hurt in case one or two are injured.

But with only 48 games, it can get late pretty early if the team struggles to score goals and gets off to a slow start.

Defense is clearly an area of depth for the Devils now, though, and moving forward. They have Alex Urbom and Eric Gelinas waiting on their AHL team in Albany for an opening on the NHL club and 2010 second-round pick Jon Merrill, probably their best prospect on defense, might be ready to leave the University of Michigan after this season.